Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Where Are The Dark Skinned Pop Stars?

A few months ago, Forbes Magazine published a list of the world's most powerful 100 celebrities. In the realm of pop stars, the usual suspects such as Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears and Beyonce all made appearances on the list. The power 100 celebrities landed on the Forbes list from their different revenue streams in music, TV, film, clothing & endorsement deals. Translation - being a pop star means big money and huge influence. While I am a fan of all the pop powerhouses I couldn't help but think.. where in the hell are the dark skinned pop stars?

Former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richardson cause quite sh!tstorm a few weeks ago when she talked about the difficulty of being a dark skinned woman in the music industry. She said "I represent for the brown girls because when you think of a sex symbol and a huge artist, most of the time it isn't the brown, darker girl". Now while some may point to Dawn's lackluster music, I think we can all agree that she has a point. The music industry has a very nasty habit of pushing lighter skin and ethnically ambiguous singers in our faces.

Singers Rita Ora & Dawn Richards. Is color a factor in how successful they become?

Every now and then you will get singers like Jill Scott, Angie Stone and Erykah Badu that defy the beauty standards and achieve great success in their genres. But let's keep it all the way real, they are R&B singers and not pop stars. Notwithstanding the difference in genres the truth is they will probably never achieve the level of the fame/success/money/influence that the Beyonce's of the world have. Adding insult to injury is the fact that as light as Beyonce is, she's constantly being lightened in commercials & print ads and made to appear even lighter than she actually is. This is a problem people!

Would Beyonce be as successful as a dark skinned woman?

I blame all of us. Present company included. The public is to blame for allowing just one standard of beauty in the pop world. Pop phenomenon's don't create themselves, the public creates and maintains them. What does this say about us not only people but specifically black people? Do this really speak to the self hatred that we have regarding race within the black community? Are we still accepting "white folks" standards of beauty? Regardless of what the root cause is, we need to address the elephant in the room. Why aren't we outraged by this?

3 comments

The "POP" world is not made for "us". Pop, is for "popular". That, as far as we are concenrned, does not include dark skinned women, at least in the racial context of this country. Dark skin has never been "popular" and therefore won't be represented in that arena. There isn't a lack of chocolate sisters representing though, they are there if you look hard enough. Ledisi, Kelly Rowland etc. They do better as independant artists, or like Kelly Rowland, overseas. The color-struck mentality in this country is special.

I think that there IS room for ALL of us of ALL skin tones because all of them are beautiful but when one is put above the other thats when its a problem. I am dark skinned and growing up I had a problem accepting my skin tone it got so bad to the point where I was going to bleach my skin but I through God, farther education, self reflection and understanding I now see the beauty in my skin and the importance if it. Now I wouldn't change my skin for ANYTHING but the fact that I had to go through that is sad and pitiful that I hated my skin so much I was going to change it and I know there are other dark skinned girls out there that feel this way and that is why I want to be a singer I want to be a positive influence and teach girls about their skin and importance of it and to love themselves just the way they are. I wanted to be a singer for a long time but now I have an actual reason and motive behind it now and I think that is my purpose and mission in life.

I think that there IS room for ALL of us of ALL skin tones because all of them are beautiful but when one is put above the other thats when its a problem. I am dark skinned and growing up I had a problem accepting my skin tone it got so bad to the point where I was going to bleach my skin but I through God, farther education, self reflection and understanding I now see the beauty in my skin and the importance if it. Now I wouldn't change my skin for ANYTHING but the fact that I had to go through that is sad and pitiful that I hated my skin so much I was going to change it and I know there are other dark skinned girls out there that feel this way and that is why I want to be a singer I want to be a positive influence and teach girls about their skin and importance of it and to love themselves just the way they are. I wanted to be a singer for a long time but now I have an actual reason and motive behind it now and I think that is my purpose and mission in life.